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TPD hopes to piece together Markel's final day

Tallahassee Police hope to reconstruct Dan Markel's final day and hours before he was shot in his Betton Hills garage July 18. Police say they believe Markel stopped by at least four Tallahassee locations on July 17 and 18. On Monday, TPD asked the public if they saw Markel or his black 2008 Honda Accord, with license number 534YBM, in the following places: The area of Tharpe Street and Mission Road; the I-10/Thomasville Road corridor; the area surrounding the FSU College of Law on Jefferson Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; and Congregation Shomrei Torah on Kerry Forest Parkway.

TPD hopes to piece together Markel's final day

Tallahassee Police hope to reconstruct Dan Markel's final day and hours before he was shot in his Betton Hills garage July 18.

Police say they believe Markel stopped by at least four Tallahassee locations on July 17 and 18. On Monday, TPD asked the public if they saw Markel or his black 2008 Honda Accord, with license number 534YBM, in the following places: The area of Tharpe Street and Mission Road; the I-10/Thomasville Road corridor; the area surrounding the FSU College of Law on Jefferson Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; and Congregation Shomrei Torah on Kerry Forest Parkway.

The Florida State University College of Law professor was shot about 11 a.m. and was rushed to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare where he later died.

"We do believe Markel was in all the areas," said Officer David Northway, TPD spokesman. "We're wondering if someone may have seen him either in his vehicle, outside of his vehicle, talking with people, interacting with community members. Anything that may give us another piece of evidence to move forward."

Police trying to retrace Dan Markel's steps the day before he was killed

Dr. Pamela Phelps, the owner of Creative Preschool, said Markel stopped by the school between 9 and 9:30 a.m. on July 18 to drop off his two boys. The school is on Tharpe Street just east of Mission Road, one area where TPD is focusing.

Phelps said he was "just his usual old self" that morning. Staffers recall him chatting with them before he left. The school didn't know he had been shot until police visited that afternoon to verify that his sons were safe.

Phelps says she's known Markel for four years and wasn't aware of any other morning routine Markel took part in. Sometimes he would grab coffee, but that's about it.

"He was very friendly, (he) always said, 'Hi, how are you'" she said. "We know absolutely nothing about his personal business, his personal life," she said.

Markel was devout in the Jewish faith and was a member of Congregation Shomrei Torah. The synagogue's president Ellen Simon said she has not heard Markel was at the synagogue on either of those days. No events were held Thursday and Shabbat services on Friday don't start until 8 p.m., several hours after Markel was shot.

Northway did not identify the particular places or businesses Markel might have been at this morning and said investigators have not releaed where they believe Markel was last seen.

FSU College of Law officials didn't respond to Democrat questions Monday.

TPD on Monday did release more details of the call a neighbor made to police the morning of the shooting. In it, the man describes a gruesome, violent scene.

The caller told Officer Kenneth Davis he heard a loud bang next door and then went over to Markel's house, where he found a bleeding Markel inside his car in the garage. Markel, the caller said, was sitting in the driver's seat and was moving, but not talking, said notes provided by the Tallahassee Fire Department's dispatch log. The driver's side window was "bashed" out, the caller added.

Markel, the caller said, was unable to tell the caller what was going on.

On Friday, police released parts of the incident report that revealed the neighbor saw a Toyota Prius-type car leaving the area after Markel was shot. Last week, TPD called a light-colored Prius captured on nearby surveillance video a "vehicle of interest" in the case. The Prius, Northway said Monday, still remains a vehicle of interest.